In the early years of his performing career, Will Rogers was a vaudeville performer of limited prominence. Around the age of thirty-five, however, this Oklahoma cowboy philosopher shed his role as local stage entertainer and moved toward fame as a Broadway star and nationally beloved humorist. This documentary history, volume four in the definitive five-volume Papers of Will Rogers, reveals Rogers s personal and professional transformation during what may have been the most productive period of his diverse career.

Between 1915 and 1928 the years covered by this volume Rogers developed...

This fifth and final volume of "The Papers of Will Rogers" traces the career of Oklahoma s beloved entertainer during his most popular years and extends beyond his death in 1935.

By 1928, the Oklahoma humorist and commentator had reached national prominence through his newspaper columns, silent films, sound recordings, books, philanthropic endeavors, and lecture tours. His fame, fortune, and influence, however, had yet to crest. This volume showcases a wide variety of documents, including correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the day, revealing Rogers s rise to...

The Civil War experiences of Albert C. Ellithorpe, a Caucasian Union Army officer commanding the tri-racial First Indian Home Guards, illuminate remarkable and understudied facets of campaigning west of the Mississippi River. Major Ellithorpe s unit comprised primarily of refugee Muscogee Creek and Seminole Indians and African Americans who served as interpreters fought principally in Arkansas and Indian Territory, isolated from the larger currents of the Civil War. Using Ellithorpe s journal and his series of "Chicago Evening Journal" articles as her main sources, M. Jane Johansson...